Shared Greetings
CLAY TWP — Two churches are spreading Christmas cheer to parishioners, one Christmas card at a time.
Instead of sending out countless individual Christmas cards, members at St. John's and Forestville United Methodist churches submit one holiday message to be compiled into a handmade book.
“We would take the money we usually spend on Christmas cards and put it to better use,” said Carol Miller of Slippery Rock, who started the project three years ago at St. John's.
Miller said parishioners donate the money normally spent on cards to benefit various missions, and in exchange, they receive a copy of the book on the Sunday before Christmas.
This is the first year books will be made for sister church Forestville.
Last year, St. John's collected about $510 for the Help Thy Neighbor Fund, a discretionary account used to help members in need. A similar fund exists at Forestville.
Though Christmas cards can be expensive and time-consuming, many people do not keep them past the holiday season, Miller said.
“The booklet is something you can keep and look at again and again,” she said.
Until three years ago, the church collected hundreds of individual Christmas cards to be sorted and distributed, said Val Grossman of Clay Township, a member of St. John's.
“It makes it much easier, instead of writing out 50 cards to parishioners, but the main reason is the money we raise for various missions,” Grossman said.
Miller starts the project at least a month before Christmas and puts in countless hours designing and assembling the 5-inch by 5-inch books.
Each family provides a greeting or message to the congregation, which Miller then places on a page and decorates with graphics using her home computer.
To finish, she prints out the pages and attaches them to handmade covers made by Mary Lou Nagy of Slippery Rock.Although Nagy spends winter in Garland, Texas, she volunteers to contribute the cover art for her home church's book.“It's made with lots of love,” Nagy said of the artwork.One cover takes between three and four hours to complete, and this year, Nagy made 80 covers for both churches.She uses a needlelike tool to punch holes in cardstock, then follows the pattern she creates to stitch an image in the paper with embroidery floss.Her daughter gets templates online for many of the designs, which have included shepherds and sheep, Jesus in the manger and a Christmas tree branch with hanging ornaments.Nagy says she is glad to contribute the covers for her friends at St. John's.“The church is just wonderful,” she said. “They have a small membership but they are caring and loving people.”Between 40 and 50 families attend each church and almost everyone participates, said the Rev. David Ealy, who now has a tradition all his own.“I save reading mine for Christmas Eve, after the service,” Ealy added. “I sort of unwind by reading the greetings from everybody.”
